keep your heart in open hand
by whispered touches
Summary: A series of drabbles/short oneshots based off of prompts sent to me over on tumblr. Mostly Makorra, but a few other ships and characters, too.
1. Makorra - One-Sentence Prompts

yoooo people, so i just realized how many drabbles i have over on my tumblr (tophbeithong) that i never post here, and i know my account has been kind of going through a drought in the fic-posting department, soooo why not have a bit of a posting marathon, right? i stop feeling guilty, you guys get fic, everybody wins. so that's what's up with that.

so this week i decided to do a prompt exchange with some friends for fun, and these are the 10 one-sentence prompts i got and decided to do for makorra/mako (yeah i know they look long but they each only have one period just trust me on this ok i counted). read on!

* * *

**1. Stolen Kisses**

Korra knows that it's not enough, at first (even though Mako is the only one who ever actually says so), only just catching glimpses of each other between her training and his new job, barely long enough to exchange a hug and a quick peck on the lips, let alone spend some quality time together – but, like always, they manage to work with what they have, and before long she starts to think of it as a little game: 5 points for catching Mako on his lunch break, 10 for just _happening_ to bump into him while he's walking his beat, 20 for getting him to give her that _look_ that says he's just as tired of these "sneak peeks" as she is and they're both going to have to set aside a night sometime in the next few days or else neither of them are going to be very happy – and with that kind of build-up, oh, are those nights _worth it._

**2. Denouement (Resolution)**

"Hey, Korra," Mako mutters as she gets back on Naga and gathers the reins in her hands; he's definitely keeping track of his brother in his periphery, but there's an openness and earnestness in his eyes that she's not used to as he continues, "I, uh, I just wanted to – thanks," and she gives him the best smile she can manage after the events of the night before turning toward the docks – toward home.

**3. A Lazy Afternoon**

"I'm taking the afternoon off," Korra announces as she barges into the apartment by her preferred way of the window (despite the fact that the new place is four stories up), and before Mako so much has time to smile at her, offer a surprised greeting, even set his newspaper aside, she collapses onto the couch with her head in his lap and her eyes closed, clearly intent on taking a nap.

**4. Family Bonding**

When Korra mentioned that her parents had put together a huge dinner party and were adamant on her attending, the last thing Mako expected was for her to say, "Of course you're invited!" with a little laugh, as though the notion that he would be left out of family bonding time was completely ridiculous, and there was a funny tightening somewhere deep in his chest that he couldn't quite find the words to explain.

**5. Serendipity**

Although he doesn't know it, Mako's not alone in wondering where he'd be and what he'd be doing if Bolin hadn't brought "another one of his crazy fangirls" back into the changing room before the match that night – while he goes back and forth between relying on all the extra hours he could get at the plant to pay the bills and being chased down by the police instead of being on the force himself – because everything was so _uncertain _for them back then, living almost day-to-day on whatever money they could save – Korra's sure that she'd still be sitting around, frustrated and cut off from her airbending, wondering how she was ever going to find the kind of Avatar, the kind of _person_ she wanted to be when the maybe only one who could give her the means and drive to go looking would be right across the bay.

**6. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables**

There's no one sitting around it, yet, which makes it easier for Mako to admire the new centerpiece of his new kitchen: a small wooden table surrounded by four straight-backed chairs, bought secondhand in a tiny, rundown, hole-in-the-wall shop on the north side of the city; the table is riddled with buffs and scratches, and three of the four chairs wobble on uneven legs, but it's _his_, a real table in his _own _kitchen for the first time ever, and he's determined to have it loaded with food by the time everyone arrives for dinner.

**7. Coffee**

Mako's never really developed much of a taste for coffee – back in the day, it was a luxury they couldn't afford – but between being introduced to the graveyard shift at the station as well as the horrors of staying after hours to file stacks of paperwork and having plans with his totally crazy (but still wonderful) girlfriend the day after late nights like these, he's gotta admit, the energy boost definitely comes in handy when he has to keep up with Korra – and he's never been picky about taste, anyway.

**8. First Meeting**

"Yeah, well, you didn't do yourself any favors on that first impression either, y'know," Korra says, teasing in her voice as she bumps her shoulder against his, and Mako chuckles, looking down at their clasped hands and thinking about how far they've come since then, back in what feels like another lifetime, wondering how he ever got so lucky.

**9. Pockets**

Loving the Avatar is – it isn't _easy_, certainly, being separated so often and for so long, knowing you have to support and be a crutch, an escape for someone so – so incredible, so _huge_, someone larger than life, in a way, more than reality – there's a pressure to it, a responsibility to be the best you can possibly be for this incredible person, and Mako's not sure he'll ever really qualify – but it's not difficult, either, especially when the Avatar is _Korra_, with her infectious laugh and bright eyes and sometimes pigheaded determination; it's not even a decision, really, it's like – like bringing the very last of your spare change out of your pocket, testing the weight of it and counting it out in your palm, wondering _is it enough, would I be better off just letting go of it, would it be worth it? _and then sighing, slipping it back into your pocket to save it for another day, protect it, even if you feel it weighing down your pants like a block of lead, knocking insistently against your leg as if to say, _I'm here, don't forget about me_ – because Mako knows better than anyone that bearing that burden, taking that weight on your shoulders isn't even a choice, isn't even a question, because at the end of a long day you're so glad to have it there tucked so close against your skin, warm and safe, cherished.

**10. Midnight**

The city is just starting to go dark, like a dying star, when they stumble into the apartment, still flushed and breathless from the run ("I'm not gonna _race you_ – Korra – hey, wait up!"), grinning as though they've got a secret to keep; Korra doesn't waste time turning on the lights before pinning Mako up against the door just as he finishes closing it; he makes a surprised little "mmpf!" noise into her mouth, but definitely does not protest as she winds her fingers into his hair and works on getting his scarf untucked from his shirt – the first, she thinks, of many clothing items that are going to be lying discarded on the floor by sunrise.


	2. Makorra - gaze, flow, and follow

some short book 2 stuff i did last weekend. (all sent by the same person, so they get clumped together.)

* * *

**gaze**

"You know what? Maybe –" And Mako hesitates, fists clenching, but the words taste like acid in his mouth and he has to spit them out – "Maybe I shouldn't have come down here with you in the first place!"

"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't have!" Korra says, arms still crossed so tightly over her chest he's not sure they'll ever come undone, and for what seems like a lifetime they stare at each other, eyes blazing, feeling the weight of all the things gone unsaid or unexplained, every wrong step hanging around their necks, before finally Korra breaks her gaze from his and storms past him, making sure to knock her shoulder into him as hard as she possibly can as she goes.

Mako waits until she's out of earshot to let his shoulders slump, make a conscious effort to soften the hard lines of his expression, heave a sigh and curse himself, a headache building somewhere deep in his skull and feeling worse than he had when he walked into the room.

—-

**flow**

It's like some kind of magic when they fight together, some spell that allows them to let the rest of the world and the rest of their problems fade into the background while they put their all into taking care of their opponent – a spirit, today, some kind of monster that seems hell-bent on getting to Korra – and doing what to her, Mako doesn't wanna know. Mostly he throws up huge plumes of fire, melting the snow at their feet, to keep the thing at bay so Korra has a chance to sling some ice at it, trying new methods to get it to leave them alone.

"How do we get rid of this thing?" he calls to her over the wind, breathing hard and squinting at her through the snow.

"No idea!" she yells back, a little busy sending a huge tendril of water the spirit's way; with incredible agility, it dodges, appears somewhere several yards behind them, and they both whirl around.

While that isn't exactly helpful, he can't deny that it's almost _nice_, being able to set aside their issues for the moment and work together for once, remembering just how much they trust each other, how easy it is to fall into these steps, like some kind of dance – the familiarity of Korra throwing punches from his shoulder, ducking in front of her to get the spirit to back off, jumping out of her way to let her do her thing – there's a simple flow in the fight, a rhythm in the constant motion that can't be broken.

Until something slams into him with all the force of twenty Satomobiles; all the air goes out of his chest in a whoosh and a blur and his name is torn from Korra's throat in a ragged scream: "_Mako!"_

—-

**follow**

"You're a _genius!"_ Korra nearly tackles him, jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck; he's so surprised by her reaction he barely has time to catch her before she plants a kiss smack on his mouth that leaves his head spinning.

"C'mon, we have to hurry!" she says, unwinding herself from around him, already bouncing and ready to go. It takes him a minute to stumble after her, still a little dazed, but then he smiles, seeing her eyes shining, takes the hand she reaches out to him, and runs.


	3. Tenzin walks in on Mako and Korra

"...in an embarrassing non-sexual act of your choosing." disappointing, i know, but that was the prompt and i did my best with what i had to work with.

(new chapters in the middle of the night because i've got nothing better to do? hell yeah)

* * *

Tenzin's hand was raised to knock on Korra's door, but he paused, frowning, when he heard more than one voice coming from inside.

"Korra, it's not gonna fit."

"Sure it will! You just - gotta - try - a little - harder -"

His frown deepened. If they were doing what he thought they were doing…

"There! See? A perfect fit."

"I feel ridiculous."

"You _look _ridiculous."

"Hey, you don't look so hot either."

"Gee, _thanks_. Some boyfriend you -"

Tenzin's knocking startled her into silence. "Korra," he called through the door. "I need to speak with you about something."

There was a short pause before she said, "Yeah, sure, come on in."

A little worried about what he would find when he did, especially when he heard Mako say in a furious whisper, "_No_, Korra, wait!", Tenzin slid the door open, carefully keeping his gaze averted to avoid getting an eyeful of - _anything_ - but it quickly became clear that there wasn't anything to be seen - at least, nothing compromising, exactly.

Unless, of course, you considered seeing Korra nearly drowning in her boyfriend's jacket, the sleeves pushed up past her elbows to allow her the use of her hands. She was wearing his pants, too, and although they had been rolled up several times, she still had to hold them up with one hand. Mako, similarly, was jammed into Korra's pants; it was lucky they were so loose, but even so, he wore them like shorts. Apparently the conversation he had heard was the struggle to get Korra's shirt over his head, which now stretched just barely enough to cover his broad shoulders and left almost all of his midriff exposed. Unlike Korra, however, who was grinning, absolutely shameless as always, his face was flaming red.

Once he shook himself free of the initial shock of seeing Korra and Mako wearing each other's clothes, Tenzin straightened up and cleared his throat. "Korra, I need to talk to you about your training schedule for this week."

The smile fell from her face. "Why, did something happen with the council?"

He sighed. "Yes, something like that."

She nodded, and he could see her running through potential issues in her mind. "Okay. Gimme a few minutes?"

Tenzin glanced between her and her boyfriend. "Sure," he said, and was more than happy to leave the room.


	4. Makorra - Get Me

this one was for a writing meme i did - someone would send in a "[blank] me", and i'd do whatever the meme said, which for this one was "one character saving another." i pretty much just ended up using this as an excuse to practice writing action scenes, but...

* * *

Korra jerked to the side to evade one water whip, turned another to steam in midair with a blast of fire, and spun around to drive her heel into a Monsoon's gut, ducking low to the ground as water cracked again over her head like a bolt of lightning –

Or maybe that was Mako, at the other end of the alley, arms straight and knees bent, smoke curling from his fingers as a man crumpled and the water he had been wielding splashed into a large puddle between them. Mako barely had time to wipe the sweat from his brow before another opponent darted out from behind a dumpster and sent several ice daggers his way –

That was all she managed to catch a glimpse of, because then she was occupied again by a tendril of water snaking around her ankle – she dug in and twisted her foot and the pavement climbed up her leg, grounding her – there was the distant sound of whooshing flames somewhere behind her, more splashes, and a short yell, which was encouraging – Korra pulled a brick out of the wall and shot it at the second Monsoon's head with a nasty thud; he groaned and keeled over while his buddy, stuck with his whip wrapped around her ankle but no way to make the move he'd planned and another officer arriving on the scene approaching from his other side, desperately tried to throw a spinning blade of water at her one-handed.

Had she not been pinned in one place by her own bending, it would've been easy to dodge – it was just lucky he hadn't had both hands free to make the thing, or it would've been much sharper; as it was, it broke the skin where it grazed her under her arm. Hissing through her teeth at the sting, she took hold of the liquid cord and, aided again by bending, tugged as hard as she could: unprepared and caught off balance as he shifted into a new stance to face the cop, he toppled right over, landing hard on his shoulder and allowing the newcomer – a metalbender, apparently – to tie him up and secure him.

That was the immediate threat on one front taken care of, then. Korra released herself from the ground, straightened up, and turned to face the guy she'd knocked down before, but it seemed that once he'd recovered, he'd chosen Mako as his new target and was sneaking up on him from behind. Mako was still holding his own, trading fireballs for shards of ice with the Monsoon using the dumpster for cover, but he was too focused, too immersed in the fight to notice – Korra's heart leapt into her throat –

_"Mako!"_ she shouted, sprinting for him, and – _no_, idiot, don't just turn around like that, I'm not the one in trouble, _you _are! An icicle nicked his shoulder while he was distracted and he spun back to throw more flames at his attacker. At least he was aware of the problem now, but there was still no way he could take both Monsoons out in that position – and Korra was still too far away to get a good shot – but maybe if she just –

She stopped running, planted her feet wide, and clenched her fists. Using all her strength, she rotated her arms and tore a huge block of earth out of the street, flipping it up with enough force that Mako's newest adversary was sent flying into the wall, slid down it, and didn't get up.

Mako tossed another handful of flames at the first Monsoon and a brief, but grateful, grin at her. "Thanks."

"You can thank me when we _both_ get home safe," she said as she finally reached him, studying his bleeding shoulder. Before he had the chance to say anything, she avoided his eyes – because he always gave her that _look_ in situations like these, the one that was too heavy to ever hold, and his words always became clear and weighted and glass and she couldn't get all broken up right now – and grabbed his sleeve, pulling him along. His man had just scurried around the corner into an intersecting alley, maybe to look for more water to use, and there were still shouts and the sounds of fighting echoing from the surrounding streets. "Come on, we've got work to do."


	5. Makorra - Invite Me

same deal as last chapter, except this one is a bit more self-explanatory: "one character asks another to join them". done and done and WELL-DONE if i do say so myself.

* * *

Mako yawns and stretches, rubbing his eyes; when he opens them, it's to see Korra waggling her fingers at him from his kitchen table.

Confused, he frowns, eyebrows coming together. "How–" he starts, voice cracking from sleep, and she jerks her thumb at the open window.

Sighing, "Of course. Silly me," he plops down across from her, resting his head on his arms.

She smirks, leaning toward him. "What, no good morning for your wonderful girlfriend who came all this way to see you?"

The thought of simply saying "no" and going back to bed is extremely tempting, if only for the look on her face, but he decides it's not worth it this early in the morning. Instead, he heaves another sigh and props his chin up on his wrist, his small smile only half-forced and three-fourths sarcastic. "Good morning, wonderful girlfriend."

Satisfied, she smiles for real, just for a second, and sits back again to properly appraise him – she's noticing the dark circles and bags under his eyes, no doubt. "You look like death," she comments, and as much as it sounds like she's trying to keep it offhand, a little concern creeps into her tone.

"Thanks," Mako says dryly, putting his head back down. "I didn't get in till almost three last night. The Red Monsoons and the Agni Kais really got into it right as my shift was about to end, and it was an 'all hands on deck, get every available man' kind of situation – you know how it's been."

Her face softens with sympathy, and he bets she's realizing just how not fun his night must've been. "I'm sorry, I had no idea."

He shrugs. "Not your fault. I just wish I'd gotten some more sleep." He glances up at the clock and has to do a double-take as the time finally clicks. "Actually, what are you even doing here? It's barely eight, why are you even up?"

"Tenzin sprung a surprise meditation session on me this morning," she says, the aftershocks of annoyance showing in her words for the first time. "Apparently my training has been going _too _well, so he's trying to keep me awake and on my toes, or something – according to him, I have too many distractions."

Korra gives him a significant look, and he grins, proud and unapologetic. "Maybe he's just trying to spice things up."

"Mako, _you're _the one I'm dating, not Tenzin." She rolls her eyes, but grins now too, the secret hanging unspoken but acknowledged between them. Then, suddenly, it fades, and she looks almost guilty – definitely regretful. "And then, uh, I was gonna ask if you wanted to come out to the track with me and Asami later, go get lunch, but that was before I knew how exhausted you'd be, so I'm guessing the answer is –"

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to pass on that one." He lets his head flop sideways, his cheek on his arm. "Thanks, though."

"I understand."

She gets up, leaning over and down for a kiss, but he lifts his elbow to block her. "Morning breath," he warns.

"Don't worry," she assures him, "I can deal with it."

Eyes falling shut, he focuses on nothing for a few moments but the warmth of her lips pressing against his, her hair brushing his forehead, taking comfort in her nearness, close enough to draw in if he were so inclined: the choice is his and his alone. When the rest of the world disappears, the world belongs to him.

His eyes stay shut as she pulls away. One of her hands lingers in his hair; the other is wrapped within one of his own.

"Get some rest, okay?" she says quietly, and he hums his assent and contentment, squeezing her fingers once before she slips from his grasp.


	6. Makorra - Rain

"That was quick." She opens the door for Mako, who's juggling an armful of paper bags and, she sees, is dripping wet. "Is it raining?"

"Mmpf." The smaller bag he's clutching in his teeth muffles his answer. Korra takes it from him so he can speak and he shakes his sopping hair out of his eyes, sending water droplets flying. "Yeah, it started when I was about halfway home. I hope you like your sweet rolls soggy."

"You got sweet rolls?"

"I think they're in this one." He offers her a bag; she carries it to the table, stands up on her toes to peek inside.

_"Yes_,_" _she says, digging them out from under a stack of take-out containers that are still, luckily, warm to the touch, while Mako ducks into the bathroom and takes a towel to his head, strips off his wet coat. As he comes back into the kitchen she heaves a happy sigh. "I love you."

He smiles. "You're welcome."

Once they've got all the dishes spread out on the table, Korra tilts her head, considering whether or not it's worth reusing the towel. "I could airbend everything dry."

He pauses in wrestling with the cover of a container to give her a _look_. "I'd rather not spend my night cleaning food off the walls."

For a second her mouth quivers into a pout like she's trying her best to be offended, but she can't keep it up and breaks into a grin, reaching over to pop the cover effortlessly. "Fair point."

Mako crumples up the empty bags and hands them to her to toss in the trash. "When are Bo and Asami gonna be over?"

"Any minute now," she says. "I guess we're waiting for them?"

His shoulders go rigid; he hesitates. "Do you mind?"

"Of course not."

But she does hook her foot around the leg of a chair and pull it out for him, and sighing, tired and grateful, he sinks down into it, tension melting from him in waves. Korra sits down across from him, stretches her legs out and props her heels on his knees. He hardly even notices – his eyes are closed, arms folded over his chest, head tilted back, hair sticking up in every direction. If she didn't know any better – if she didn't know how to read the rhythm of his breathing and the exact angles of his body – she'd think he was about to fall asleep.

She nudges him with her toe, and he cracks an eye open.

"Long day?"

On a lengthy exhale: "Yeah."

She straightens up. "You wanna tell me about it?"

He looks at her for a long moment and then starts to smile. "Sure."

Just as he leans forward and opens his mouth, there's a _knock-knock-knock _on the door. Before he gets the chance to make a move, she stands, circling the table, arms looping around him from behind.

"You can tell me later," she says, and smiles again, too. She kisses his temple and goes to answer the door.

* * *

[whispers] i kind of love this one a lot because domesticity is my weAKNESS


	7. Pemzin - Crossword Puzzle

it's about damn time i posted something other than makorra like i promised - not much, but it's a cute lil somethin somethin, based partly on the fact that tenzin clearly cares for pema a lot and i imagine, like aang, he'd still be kind of shocked and awed at his luck in the early stages of their marriage (and then having to work around the prompt), so uh. yeah!

* * *

"What's got you so frustrated?" His wife's voice, slightly teasing, takes a moment to reach him over the paper. Tenzin straightens, lifting his head from his hand.

"Oh, it's nothing, Pema," he says, still frowning at the grid and the ink scribbled all over it, letters crossed out. "Just having a little trouble with the crossword."

She sends him that skeptical look of hers, the one where her mouth twitches into a half-smirk and her nose scrunches up – the one he's spent lazy mornings and a few seconds spared on packed afternoons and quiet evenings alone trying to memorize, but the image in his head can never compare to the real thing.

"Want some help?" she asks.

After a long moment, eyes scanning the list of hints, he huffs a somewhat grudging sigh, looking up at her. "I'd love some."

Pema even manages to fall down next to him with grace, arm pressing against his as she leans over to pluck the pen from his hand, twirling it in her fingers and biting on her thumbnail. He admires the smooth curve of her cheek for another beat before turning back to the puzzle, shifting closer to her.

"See, I just can't figure this one out…"


	8. Makorra - Airbending

Watching her soar like that, twisting and looping, hundreds of feet above him, just a speck in the sky, her yells and woops carried down to him on the wind she wields – grace isn't the word he'd use, exactly, but it's like she was _born_ for this. To be free.

Smiling, Mako lifts his hand to shield his eyes as she passes in front of the sun and is drowned in its light. When he can see again Korra's circling into a descent (_at least she's not spiraling, _he thinks, noting the improvement from her first few days out), so he steps out of her way, just in case she crash-lands again – he's still got the bruises from the first time she used him as her landing pad and he's not too eager to duplicate them.

She flashes him a grin once she gets close enough to see him, full of fire and brighter than the sun. With at least a little luck – because the whole thing definitely doesn't look on-purpose – and all of her regular determination, she manages just a hard stumble, running along with her glider and forcing it down past the upward air currents, released from her control. For the first time she's gotten away scratch-free, no skinned elbows or scraped palms, _nothing._

At this point, so close to the end of her formal training, every step is huge for her, and they both know it: Beaming, she flicks the glider closed and heads straight for him, where he's waiting in the center of their makeshift landing strip with his arms already wide open – Korra laughs and jumps into them, wrapping her legs around his waist, staff still clutched in her hand (rather than tossed carelessly aside, like she would have done a few weeks ago) and breathing quick.

"That was amazing!" he says, and maybe once he would've embarrassed by his own complete and total awe, but not anymore, not now that he's seen her climb and fall like that in every way possible.

She kisses him hard with lips chapped from so much time spent in the wind. She tastes like summer.

"I _know_," she says, after she pulls back, all pride and exhilaration and glowing eyes. Before his head gets a chance to stop spinning, she's unwinding her arms from around his neck and dropping back down to the ground, switching the glider open again and telling him to hold on tight. He doesn't even think to question her; next thing, his stomach's turning over and her hair's whipping into his face; the sunlight slides across his skin and their reflection ripples in the bay below them, and he's weightless.


	9. Makorra - Help

(middle of the night update because i feel bad about being too busy the past couple days to really get on here at all, woo)

this was the second and "final" version i did of this prompt, dealing with mako's issues with self-blame and self-worth, especially when it comes to korra. yknow, fun stuff. it's also kind of a weird one? so uh, brace yourself.

* * *

There was a hand around her neck, clenched beneath the hinges of her jaw to keep it locked; Mako wanted to shout but he felt the chains, too, like frostbite at his fingertips, binding his wrists, trapping the sound as it thrashed helplessly around the inside of his throat. Even from here he could see Korra's eyes were wide – in defiance, he thought, with equal doses of pride and fear. Battling all of his warring instincts as he did so, he forced himself to take only a single step forward, and at near precisely the same moment, her eyes flicked over to him with a hundred alarms going off in them as the shadow, the monster tightened its grip on her and mirrored him, lighting a flame in its fist, reflecting blue and then red, and blood, a promise.

"You should leave," a voice said; though the fire cast light over the angles of Korra's face (cheeks blooming bruises lip split swollen nose and eye), the owner of the voice wasn't visible.

Mako took another step forward. "That's not possible."

"What a pity." There was a disembodied sigh, and Mako allowed himself to believe it was actually full of regret – just for a fraction of a second, before the tone sharpened again, like words spoken from the edge of a knife. "There's nothing you can do to help her now. She belongs to me."

Korra struggled a bit (at least as much as she could without causing herself too much pain, going by how limited those movements were, how stiff) until the hand flexed and she made a small choking, coughing sound and fell still again, silent, glaring.

He willed the fire to flare to new heights. At the same time, the flames held at Korra's throat rose, so that they almost seared her skin, but Mako didn't back down. He wouldn't run this time – he _couldn't_.

"She's _not_ yours," he said, deadly calm and quiet, continuing to close the distance between them. The figure with its arms around Korra approached from the other end of the room. "She's mine."

The growl in his own voice surprised even him. He was close enough now that he could see the sweat collecting on Korra's brow, could practically feel her pulse jumping. He drew his arm back, the muscles coiling and tensing.

Almost amused: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Aimed perfectly, impeccably, Mako threw a punch, and a fireball arced through the air – the flames seemed to catch on themselves, drag, as though everything, all matter, had frozen at once –

In slow motion, he watched Korra crumple into a sizzling, charred heap on the floor, and he knew nothing for a moment except the shock – just an instant before she had been breathing, had been fighting, even, and now – now the anger rushed to him, in a wave of dizziness, and he realized he was on his knees beside her and trying not to recoil – because he knew but didn't want to know that he'd done this, his hands suddenly dripped with her blood, he would not darken her with his touch.

Laughter from above: _he _was standing over them, over her body, over _himself_, in a mask of childlike glee, as though the whole thing was an elaborate joke and he was half-expecting her to pop up again, the same way she always did when they were sparring.

"I warned you," he said. "You should have listened to me." And this time Mako did listen, and this time he saw, and it was _his _voice and _his _face, like looking into a mirror warped by extreme temperatures – hot or cold, he couldn't tell anymore, he was beginning to lose all feeling in his nerves. "You did this to yourself."

"No."

_Yes_.

"No –" He dropped his head, clutched at it. Korra was crumbling to ash right in front of him, falling through his fingers like she was made to do it. "Korra, no – _no_ – come back –"

He leaned closer to her, trying to gather her into his arms and wish the life back into her, but he might as well have been trying to trap smoke – she was already being blown away from him, far away. Someone put their hand on his shoulder; he threw them off; they tried again, shook him, and the entire world shook, too, and with a painful crick in his neck, his head snapped back up.

The room was mostly dark. Panic and anguish kept his breath tearing in and out of his chest, and he stayed very still for several seconds until "Mako," when he gave a start and his head spun and then started to clear: He was in the apartment, at the table. He'd been working on the report for this week's breaking and entering to stay awake (admittedly, maybe it wasn't the best plan) so he could wait up for Korra – _Korra_ –

He twisted around in his chair, and it was her hand that was on his shoulder, and she was home – here, next to him. Her chin was cut, but on first glance that seemed to be the worst of her injuries; her gaze was full of concern, but she was smiling.

"Bad dream?" she said.

For a few seconds he just blinked at her while his eyes adjusted to the lack of light and she came further into focus. Then he said, "Uh –", standing – she reached up and peeled a leaflet from his forehead, which came away with the ink a little more faded than it'd been earlier this evening. "Kind of – doesn't matter." He cleared his throat, rough from sleep. "Everything go okay tonight?"

"Yeah, it was fine."

Frowning briefly, he brushed the gash on her chin, resisting the urge to lick his thumb and wipe away the dried blood there; as it was, she wrinkled her nose and swatted him away.

Finally, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "Okay," he said. Deep breath. "Good."

* * *

putting this at the end to avoid spoiling the damn thing before you even read it, but - dream things are weird, ok, dont look at me like that.


	10. Borra - Blanket

yo i'm just sayin that you can totally view this as just bros being bros instead of shippy if borra's not your thing because idk about you guys but all i really want is for bolin and korra to be best cuddle buddies forever yknow what i mean

* * *

Too tired to really care about the combination of noise and the late hour, Korra sighs as she kicks the door shut behind her with a click, bracing an arm against the wall to pull off her boots. Her eyes fall on Bolin: He's slumped on the couch, his chin on his chest, a blanket thrown over his lap, sprawling the way he does so he seems to take up not just the whole couch, but even the entire room, too.

Yawning, she stumbles over to him. She's got to fight him for space, has to crawl on top of him and shove his dead weight so she can pull the blanket up to cover both their shoulders. Bolin stirs as she shifts one last time, pressing into his side, resting halfway on his chest and laying her head there. He extracts an arm and wraps it around her without opening his eyes.

"Iwetpfurryuh," he mumbles, and Korra's not sure right away if he's even awake, but she's been studying his language and is able to translate as if she's been speaking and breathing Bolin her entire life: _I waited up for you._

"I know," she mutters. She lets her eyes slide closed.


End file.
